Genesis 32:1-21

Jacob Fears Esau

1 Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.

2 And when Jacob saw them he said, “This is God’s ¹camp! ” So he called the name of that place ²Mahanaim. ^[a]

3 And Jacob sent^[b] messengers before him to Esau his brother in the land of ³Seir, the country of Edom,

4 instructing them, “Thus you shall say to my lord Esau: Thus says your servant Jacob, ‘I have sojourned with Laban and stayed until now.

5 I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, male servants, and female servants. I have sent to tell my lord, in order that ⁴I may find favor in your sight. ’”

6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, “We came to your brother Esau, and ⁵he is coming to meet you, and there are four hundred men with him. ”

7 Then Jacob was ⁶greatly afraid and distressed. He divided the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps,

8 thinking, “If Esau comes to the one camp and attacks it, then the camp that is left will escape. ”

9 And Jacob said, ⁷“O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Lord who ⁸said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your kindred, that I may do you good, ’

10 ⁹I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant, for with only my staff I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.

11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for ¹⁰I fear him, that he may come and attack me, the mothers with the children.

12 But ¹¹you said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. ’”

13 So he stayed there that night, and from what he had with him he took ¹²a present for his brother Esau,

14 two hundred female goats and twenty male goats, two hundred ewes and twenty rams,

15 thirty milking camels and their calves, forty cows and ten bulls, twenty female donkeys and ten male donkeys.

16 These he handed over to his servants, every drove by itself, and said to his servants, “Pass on ahead of me and put a space between drove and drove. ”

17 He instructed the first, “When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, ‘To whom do you belong? Where are you going? And whose are these ahead of you? ’

18 then you shall say, ‘They belong to your servant Jacob. They are a present sent to my lord Esau. And moreover, he is behind us. ’”

19 He likewise instructed the second and the third and all who followed the droves, “You shall say the same thing to Esau when you find him,

20 and you shall say, ‘Moreover, your servant Jacob is behind us. ’” For he thought, “I may appease him^[c] with the present that goes ahead of me, and afterward I shall see his face. Perhaps he will accept me. ” ^[d]

21 So the present passed on ahead of him, and he himself stayed that night in the camp.

Genesis 32:1-21 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 32

This chapter informs us of Jacob's proceeding on in his journey, and of his being met and guarded by an host of angels, Ge 32:1,2; of his sending messengers to his brother Esau, acquainting him with his increase, and desiring his favour and good will, Ge 32:3-5, who return and report to him, that Esau was coming to him with four hundred men, which put him into a panic, and after devising ways and means for the security of himself; and those with him, at least a part, if not the whole, Ge 32:6-8; then follows a prayer of his to God, pressing his unworthiness of mercies, and his sense of them, imploring deliverance from his brother, and putting the Lord in mind of his promises, Ge 32:9-12; after which we have an account of the wise methods he took for the safety of himself and family, by sending a present to his brother, dividing those who had the charge of it into separate companies, and directing them to move at a proper distance from each other, he, his wives and children, following after, Ge 32:13-23; when they were over the brook Jabbok, he stopped, and being alone, the Son of God in an human form appeared to him, and wrestled with him, with whom Jacob prevailed, and got the blessing, and hence had the name of Israel, Ge 32:24-28; and though he could not get his name, he perceived it was a divine Person he had wrestled with, and therefore called the name of the place Penuel, Ge 32:29-31; the hollow of his thigh being touched by him with whom he wrestled, which put it out of joint, he halted as he went over Penuel, in commemoration of which the children of Israel eat not of that part of the thigh, Ge 32:31,32.

Cross References

• 1. 32:2 [Josh. 5:14; Luke 2:13]
• 2. 32:2 Josh. 21:38; 2 Sam. 2:8; 17:24, 27; 1 Kgs. 2:8
• 3. 32:3 ch. 36:8, 9; Deut. 2:5; Josh. 24:4
• 4. 32:5 ch. 33:8, 15
• 5. 32:6 ch. 33:1
• 6. 32:7 ch. 35:3
• 7. 32:9 ch. 28:13; 31:42, 53
• 8. 32:9 ch. 31:3, 13
• 9. 32:10 [2 Sam. 7:18]
• 10. 32:11 [Prov. 18:19]
• 11. 32:12 ch. 28:13-15
• 12. 32:13 ch. 43:11; [Prov. 17:8; 18:16; 19:6; 21:14]

Footnotes

• [a] 32:2 'Mahanaim' means 'two camps'
• [b] 32:3 Or 'had sent'
• [c] 32:20 Hebrew 'appease his face'
• [d] 32:20 Hebrew 'he will lift my face'